SAA proud to again be part of ATP Tennis Tournament in 2011

South African Airways (SAA) is pleased to announce it is again the official airline sponsor of the ATP tennis tournament starting in January at Sydney's Olympic Park.

According to Thevan Krishna, SAA's Head of Australasia, the airline's exclusive global deal with ATP, governing body of the men's professional circuit, is now in its fifth year and runs until 2012. The airline became a platinum sponsor this year.  

"The Medibank International will take place at Sydney Olympic Park from January 9, 2011 with the women's finals to be played on January 14 and the men's finals on January 15," Thevan said.

"This year both the men's and women's tennis promise to be very exciting. Major players like Juan Martin del Potro and defending champion Marcos Baghdatis in the men's and Kim Clijsters and our own Samantha Stosur in the women's are all scheduled to play," he said.

"During the week we will be welcoming many of our clients in the travel industry to some of the matches, our way of showing our appreciation of their support for SAA through the past year.

"SAA is thrilled to again be the official airline sponsor and the exclusive airline for the event. The ATP sponsorship is a great initiative for us here in Australia. This year's tournament is expected to attract capacity crowds to see some of the world's best tennis players.

"Our involvement with ATP since 2006 when we first signed the deal has been great and each year we benefit from the high quality management of the event and the fact that our clients look forward to and enjoy being with us out at Olympic Park.

"The ATP sponsorship is terrific for our branding in Australia and we look forward to the opportunities for SAA that will result. SAA has had a big year with the World Cup being so successfully staged in South Africa and our involvement with sport continues with being part of the tennis in 2011," Thevan concluded.

Note for editor: SAA flies non-stop every day from Sydney to Johannesburg and daily from Perth, with connections to the largest network in Africa. SAA is consistently voted the 'Best Airline & Cabin Crew in Africa' winning it for the 16th consecutive year in the Travel Weekly Globe Awards in London. SAA took out top honours at the recent WTA awards in London, with three awards in the Africa category. SAA is a member of STAR, the world's largest alliance reaching 916 destinations in 160 countries. For more information on SAA flights and reservations please call 1300 435 972 or www.flysaa.com  

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